When William Eisenhardt's father died in 1907, the sixth-grader dropped out of school and got a job sweeping sawdust at a bustling lumber and millwork company in South Bethlehem. It wasn't long before the serious boy learned the intricate art of woodworking, crafting kitchen cabinets, doors and molding for residential and commercial customers who demanded pieces honed to perfection. Years later in 1937, he opened his own business, Eisenhardt Mills, in an unassuming building along Richmond Road in Forks Township.

— It's showtime for Philadelphia. The Democratic National Committee is heading to town Wednesday and Thursday to evaluate the city's bid to host the party's 2016 convention. Organizers say they plan to show off the City of Brotherly Love's historic sites — as well as its practical assets. That means emphasizing Philly's bustling restaurant scene, availability of hotel rooms and general walkability in between visits to Independence Hall, the Rocky statue and world-famous cheesesteak vendors.

Without the preservation of physical mementos, we are lost. We cannot know who we are unless we can see and touch the remnants of the key events in our past. America would be diminished without Independence Hall, Boston's Old North Church, the Liberty Bell (rescued from the Redcoats when hidden in Allentown), the Declaration of Independence, or our consecrated battlefield sites — from the redoubts of Yorktown to the High Water Mark at Gettysburg. It even was necessary to preserve things like the little $180 house where Elvis Presley was born 78 years ago in Tupelo, Miss., and a monument where the lives of Bonnie and Clyde ended 71/2 months earlier in Gibsland, La. Americans need such relics so we do not wander around like amnesiacs, with no sense of who we are or how we got here.

As the aroma of funnel cakes and firecrackers wafted across the Benjamin Franklin Parkway Friday night, Victoria Whartenby, 14, made a sacrifice for her favorite singer. The petite girl from Clayton would never catch a glimpse of Ed Sheeran with taller fans towering over her. So she got a better view - from the back of a garbage truck. "Anything for Ed," she said with a smile, unfazed by the smell, as she scanned over the crowd of concertgoers. Hundreds of thousands of people throughout the day packed Philadelphia, from the green yard behind Independence Hall to the steps of the Art Museum, to celebrate the city's annual Fourth of July celebration, billed as America's biggest free concert and party, and capped by a spectacular display of fireworks.

Gov. Tom Ridge and Martha Aiken, superintendent of Independence Park, review a sketch after Ridge announced the state's $10 million contribution toward the construction of a new Gateway Visitor Center at Independence Mall, during a news conference Thursday in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The Pew Charitable Trusts and the city already pledged $10 million for the center, the key feature of a new design for the three blocks leading to Independence Hall.

A bomb squad technician X-rays a briefcase (top) and a robot carries the case to a bomb squad vehicle (above) yesterday in Philadelphia. The suspicious briefcase, left unattended in the Federal Building near Independence Hall, contained only a pair of contact lenses, house keys and a clipboard. The owner of the case was not identified by police.

The Declaration of Independence, whose words changed the course of history, will be read aloud shortly after noon tomorrow near the spot in Philadelphia where the revolutionary document was first proclaimed on July 8, 1776. The Declaration also will be read at midday Saturday and Sunday by Independence National Historical Park rangers dressed in period clothing. Readings will take place in the square behind Independence Hall, between Chestnut, Walnut, 5th and 6th streets. The public will be summoned to hear the Declaration by the noon ringing of the Centennial Bell in the tower of Independence Hall.

Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis speaks before a mural of Independence Hall at Pennsbury High School. People in the bleachers at Pennsbury High School cheer during Dukakis rally. A shirt-sleeved Gov. Dukakis answers questions during Bucks County rally. Dukakis supporter Gary Culp of Doylestown show his sign to the crowd. Careful listeners in the crowd at Pennsbury High School. Gov. Dukakis speaks while his daughter, Kara, looks on.

To the Editor: As a second-year college student, I have been taught again and again the importance of our Declaration of Independence. So, when deciding how to spend my day on July 4, I thought it only right to go straight to the source of the celebrated document: Independence Hall. I arrived in Philadelphia on Wednesday and was shocked to see the number of visitors who also came to get a glimpse at America's past. I saw Independence Hall from a distance and there was a crowd gathering at the corner.

It will be if Philadelphia is successful. The city plans to raise $47,000 to lower the scaffolding seen yesterday around the tower of Independence Hall for the Fourth of July, then raise it again so work on the building can be completed. The effort is under way because the venerable hall will be the venue for various events planned for Independence Day. Included are visits from President Clinton, African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, and South African President F.W. de Klerk.

In connection with the exhibition "Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello," National Constitution Center visitors can learn more about Jefferson's legacy and what more had to pass before enslaved people finally became free — 87 years, the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13 t h amendment to the Constitution. • Other Jefferson-related documents at the center: You'll find a slave ship pardon from 1808, a list of slaves Jefferson owned at his Tomahawk and Bear Creek plantations and an 1821 anti-slavery letter Jefferson wrote to Virginia politician Spencer Roane.

It's tempting to view the National Constitution Center's newest exhibit, "Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello," and say it airs the dirty linen of Thomas Jefferson, who took a public role as a champion of freedom and liberty while remaining a slaveholder for his entire life. But it's not as simple as that. Touring this exhibit requires wearing glasses like those Jefferson wore and seeing his world close-up to better understand his times. When you finally remove those glasses, you'll have a more balanced view of the man and better understand his struggle with one of the most troubling issues in American history.

No one can say that nothing good came of this week's federal government shutdown. In an affront to every decent American, the hallowed ground of the Gettysburg National Military Park - a world-renowned symbol of the gallant struggle against a depraved crusade to keep people enslaved - was about to be desecrated. A rally there was planned for Saturday by the Confederate White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. What's next? A rally by al-Qaida at Gettysburg's Little Round Top to celebrate 9/11 glory?

Less than 50 miles from the Lehigh Valley, as the crow flies, is the only museum dedicated entirely to the world's most important document. The National Constitution Center is two blocks from Independence Hall, where the U.S. Constitution was signed 11 years after the world's second most important document, the Declaration of Independence, was signed there. It is embarrassing to admit I have been to the center only once since it opened 10 years ago, even though I have spent many years firing thunderous salvos in support of the Constitution and in angry opposition to those who regularly try to subvert or violate it. I just never got around to going back for another visit, always making sincere plans to go in a week or so. Fresh waves of guilt washed over me in recent days after I was hit by a bolt of dissertational lightning from the center's president.

Without the preservation of physical mementos, we are lost. We cannot know who we are unless we can see and touch the remnants of the key events in our past. America would be diminished without Independence Hall, Boston's Old North Church, the Liberty Bell (rescued from the Redcoats when hidden in Allentown), the Declaration of Independence, or our consecrated battlefield sites — from the redoubts of Yorktown to the High Water Mark at Gettysburg. It even was necessary to preserve things like the little $180 house where Elvis Presley was born 78 years ago in Tupelo, Miss., and a monument where the lives of Bonnie and Clyde ended 71/2 months earlier in Gibsland, La. Americans need such relics so we do not wander around like amnesiacs, with no sense of who we are or how we got here.

It's the stuff of films like "National Treasure" where the backstory relates how a group of loyal patriots defied certain death by hiding a valuable symbol of American liberty from invading British forces, thus preserving our national character and eventually our basic freedoms. And at the center of that story would be the small, fledgling community of Northampton Towne, at that time little more than a backwater Colonial village. Its role in the preservation of American liberty hasn't been made into a movie yet, but the narrative of how that community played unwitting host to the Liberty Bell as it lay hidden in the basement of the German Reformed Church, its location known to only a few loyal patriots, just screams Nicolas Cage.

To the Editor: Paul Carpenter's columns, including his June 13 column, bring him forth as a lone public defender of the U.S. Constitution. I cannot recall reading any other sources that continually champion our American freedoms. Every couple of years, I venture to Independence Hall in Philadelphia to feel the presence of our great American patriots who debated and drafted and designed the greatest document for the freedom and rights of individuals. To stand in a room and contemplate how these great men achieved this instrument of independence is awe-inspiring.

Inside a historic city tavern in Philadelphia, a congressional delegation convened yesterday following the main event in a bicentennial celebration at Independence Hall. Several U.S. representatives and senators, their families and aides attended a reception by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. Among those who attended were Sens. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va. and Robert Dole, R-Kan., the Senate majority and minority leaders. The dignitaries on hand kept up the patriotic spirit that was evident throughout the day at Independence Hall.

Sarah Palin said, "Welcome you to the 'One Nation' bus tour. We know you're all people who love those same family values there that so many Americans hold dear and we wanted to see the best that this great Lehigh Valley of yours has to offer, preferably in a series of brief photo opportunities and TV sound bites. Todd, are you finished countin' heads?" "District Judge Maryesther Merlo?" her husband Todd read. "She's the only one who didn't check in. " "She's late," someone yelled from the back.

While most Americans know that July Fourth is our country's birthday, far fewer Americans know that today is the birthday of our nation's government — the date in 1787 when delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia completed and signed the Constitution of the United States. It was not until 2004 that Constitution and Citizenship Day was officially established, when Sen. Robert Byrd, one of the Senate's leading constitutional scholars, introduced legislation that President George W. Bush signed into law requiring that all schools, colleges and agencies receiving federal funds offer annual educational programming involving the Constitution of Sept.